Centaur Begins Second Burn

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, spacecraft on a 10-month journey to the Red Planet.

The Centaur upper stage has restarted its RL-10A-4-2 engine, ending the coast phase and ensuring NASA's MAVEN spacecraft is placed on its path to Mars.

MAVEN launched at 1:28 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The Mars-bound spacecraft is embarking on a mission to study the Red Planet's upper atmosphere, where it will investigate how the loss of atmospheric gases to space determined the history of water on the surface.